U.s. Salmon Aquaculture : Ethical Issues

Salmon has been a highly demanded product by millions of customers as well as the countries who rely on seafood as a primary dish. However, with the influx of people’s wants come the consequences of these species are decreasing in populations around the world due to the causes and practices of human fishing. As stated by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), there were an estimated 50% decline worldwide of salmon over the last twenty years. Several sources play a factor in the huge amounts of salmon being depleted including overfishing, loss of habitat, and even dams. Since the late 1900s, other ways of reversing what was happening to populations were being proposed and one new technical approach to re-populate the salmon fish exponentially was known as salmon farming, but the process brought more problems to the salmon species then there were good.

One of the most commonly shared beliefs about aquaculture is that it has potential to amplify and transfer disease/parasites to wild fish populations, but strict management practices and guidelines have been utilized and supplemented to ensure that US farming operations mitigate current and potential environmental risks associated with aquaculture (NOAA, 2015). Among these practices are regular diver-led inspections to investigate the integrity of nets and net infrastructure, surveillance cameras and even public webcam feeds that monitor the fish farms and in particular monitor efficient use of feed, regular health inspections in efforts to have a head start on disease prevention and detection, and “comprehensive sanitary and biosecurity programs to prevent the introduction and/or spread of pests or diseases from one farm site/cage to another or into the environment.” (NOAA, 2015). Additionally, movements are being made to stop the spreading of disease and to limit oceanic pollution by containing salmon in solid tanks rather than in netting. “In Washington State, Domsea Farms has launched a land-based, freshwater system to produce coho salmon.” (David Suzuki Foundation, n.d.) This method is not only environmentally sound, but it opens up aquacultural boundaries. By containing fish in these large tanks, there is potential for salmon aquaculture to

The orangutan, one of the world’s great apes, resides on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo. The forests of these islands are being destroyed in order to create palm oil plantations. Palm oil is in high demand due to its uses as a biofuel and as a vegetable oil. The palm oil industry is a major threat to the survival of the critically endangered orangutans, due to loss of habitat. This leads to illegal poaching since the orangutans are viewed as pests, leaving many young infants orphaned and alone. There are rescue groups that rehabilitate these great apes, but more must be done in order to prevent the extinction of this rapidly declining species. Sustainable palm oil options need to be researched and utilized and there should

Primate conservation has long been a topic of debate, reliant most heavily on the struggle to provide the necessary resources to combat the declining rate of population growth among various species. Orangutans in particular, both Sumatran and Bornean, have experienced a rapid drop in their free-living populations. With an estimate

The Great Salmon Compromise For over one hundred years the salmon population in the Columbia Basin has been drastically decreasing, due to overfishing and man made obstacles. The Columbia Basin Fish Accords have given a one billion dollar grant to tribes and states for habitat restoration projects. However, the conflict still rages between the native tribes of the area, and the federal government whose roadblocks such as dams prohibit the free flowing rivers that bring salmon back to the spawning grounds. The effort to keep salmon coming back up the river while keeping the dams intact is the struggle that the federal grant hopes to solve.

From the San Francisco Bay to streams and rivers of Oregon, salmon populations have been steadily decreasing over the past two decades but more rapidly within recent years. In general, fish populations in the Pacific Northwest region have always fluctuated, but the overall trend continues on a downward slope to extinction. While natural phenomena such as flooding and predators of the food chain do affect salmon populations, human activity poses the greatest threat by far. The four main reasons of salmon plummeting are as followed: Harvest, Hatcheries, Hydropower, and Habitat. It’s clear that water ecosystems and management of human activity threaten salmon as a whole. Whether it’s a bay, river or stream- whatever body of water that contains salmon should be subject to ethics that guide our actions as a part of achieving a better overall environment.

The first Pacific salmon hatchery was constructed on the McCloud river in California in 1872, and its purpose was to produce Chinook salmon eggs that would be distributed far and wide, starting a practice of introducing non-native fish for human enjoyment and consumption that has proven very destructive, both to populations of salmon and other fish species (Maynard and Trial 2013). During this time the main goal of hatcheries was to produce as many salmon as possible, regardless of the carrying-capacity of the effected stream, a practice that was largely motivated by the canning industries who benefitted significantly from increased salmon production. During this period, the natural environments that shaped the development of each salmon run were not only seen as unimportant, but actually detrimental to salmon-production (Maynard and Trial 2013). Current research makes it clear that these factors, which early hatchery managers saw as detrimental, are in fact key to healthy salmon

There are many risks associated with eating farm-raised salmon versus wild- caught salmon. One risk that farm raised salmon faces is contaminants that can lead to cancer. Farm raised salmon are placed in artificially made bodies of water such as ponds, lakes, and salt water and within these bodies of water, contaminants such as PCBs can be present. Cancer causing chemicals can be present in both the water, farm-raised salmon swims in, and the food they eat. Another risk with farm-raised salmon is the use of antibiotics in order to keep the fish healthy. This unknown amount of antibiotics used on the fish can lead to a resistance to the antibiotic used to kill the bacteria’s in both human and the salmon. The humans that are consuming the fish that possess these antibiotics are unintentionally

According to the anthropologist Professor Henry Bunn of Wisconsin University the use of animals for food dates back to two million years ago, when, “our human ancestors were small brained ape-men” (McKie, 2012). The use of animals for a source of food, clothing, and even entertainment is not something new to us. But what is fairly new are the animal rights movement groups as well as legislation that have formed in the last century to protect the rights of animals and preventing animal cruelty in slaughter. There are specific movements and laws such as the 1958 Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and the 2015

Lou Gonzales, of Sonora, recently returned from a salmon fishing trip to the Kenai River in Alaska, near Soldotna. Due to low return numbers, the Kenai River had been closed to the taking of king (chinook) salmon for the past few years. Gonzales was amazed at how good the fishing was since the closure. Gonzalez and friends released over 30 kings during the trip, keeping the biggest of the allowable one per day limit, which weighed 48 and 50-pounds. Numerous silver (coho) salmon were also caught. While on the Kenai, the friend with whom he was fishing had a rule - to release kings under 30-pounds. Gonzales has been there on trips in the past, but never saw it quite this good. A few years back, he caught a huge king in the 70-pound class. The

I. Introduction For this project, we are researched the salmon trade and how it has evolved over the years. The salmon commodity chain has three main consumers – the United States, Japan, and China. The development of aquaculture has changed our consumption of salmon drastically over the past decades, with Norway leading the aquaculture industry, and Chile fast catching up. Because of differing standards of farming, the quality of cultivated salmon varies; some farms may use chemicals, while others focus on a sustainable farming process focused on longevity of humans, salmon, and the earth. Atlantic salmon used to overflow waters ranging from Quebec to Newfoundland, all the way southwest to Long Island Sound. Come the beginning of the 19th

The subjects presented in chapters1-3 in the Policy Analysis book are The Canadian Salmon Fishery, What is policy Analysis and Toward Professional Ethics. The Canadian Salmon Fishery preview is in chapter one. The chapter talks about how the product of policy analysis is advice. How the advice for policy comes

Additionally, Palm Oil is highly productive, meaning it is capable of yielding more oil from less land than any other vegetable oil on the market and with relatively modest efforts. As a result, palm oil production has become an important source of income and a major part of the economy in the regions where it is grown, providing livelihoods for local communities and helping to bring people out of poverty. Since 1980, palm oil production has increased drastically with estimations of production increasing by 50% through 2050. It is estimated that there are 13-14 million hectares of palm oil plantations across the equator, producing a total of 56.2 million tonnes of palm oil in 2013. This land coverage provides 35% of the global vegetable oil

Accounting for 11% of Indonesia’s export earnings, palm oil is the most valuable agricultural export. Creating many environmental problems, including globally, cultivating large quantities of palm involves clearing substantial areas of virgin tropical rain forest. Additionally, local communities, indigenous people, and small landowners are driven from their own